Keeping track of what you are grateful for may sound like like something Oprah Winfrey suggested decades ago.

But today, several new studies suggest that practicing gratitude isn’t just for the Pollyannas of the world. Here are three benefits to being grateful:

Gratitude is about focusing on other people, says Dr. Jo-Ann Tsang, a psychology professor at Baylor University, who led a study which will appear in the July 2014 issue of the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

“Previous research that we and others have done finds that people are motivated to help people that help them–and to help others as well. We’re social creatures, and so focusing on others in a positive way is good for our health,” Tsang said in a statement.

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In that study, which appears in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, participants were given the opportunity to receive immediate cash or wait for a larger check that would be mailed later. Prior to making their selection, participants were randomly assigned to write about an event that made them grateful, happy, or neutral.